When Rooks Roost
by Strawberry Sauce
Summary: What happens when an ex-human hunter, that is being hunted by the hunters society, has a chance encounter with an unusual rook? A chance encounter which will lead to changes that force him to look away from the life he has known and shake him to the core. Rated M for later chapters.


**When Rooks Roost**

Summary: Kaname is a pureblood vampire who had a spell cast, by his uncle Rido, to turn him by day into a rook, when rooks roost he retunes to vampire. In order for the spell to break he must find his soulmate and make them fall in love with him, trouble is he has no clues to who his soulmate is, and if the spell doesn't break before his 18th birthday ~ when his vampire true powers should awaken ~ he will remain a rook forever! Zero is an exhuman hunter, shunned and hunted by the hunter society since he was turned. He however, having known no other life, continues to hunt level E's even though he knows he will one day fall to level E. When the two meet what will happen?

Warning: This fic will be Yaoi, which is male/male and it will be KanameXZero and vice versa. You have been warned. I will try to keep the characters from being OOC, but there will probably be a little bit of OOCness, considering this is a KanameXZero fic. Rated M for later chapters.

A.n. this is AU, Yuki is human and Kaien's daughter. Ichiru is dead. Shizuka and Rido are lovers, now and Kaname has been turned into a rook by Rido and is Shizuka's personal messenger/ watch bird. (Chapter 13 in the manga, Shizuka uses a bird to view the world. I think that bird was a crow but a rook fits better with this story, as rooks roost). Zero is an exhuman hunter who is being hunted down by the hunter society, he was turned by Shizuka for the same reasons as in the manga/anime.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire knight or its characters. I am just borrowing them for the purpose of this fic. I own only the plot line and any OC that may appear.

I'm not entirely sure what genre this story is but I guess Romance and Drama fit best.

Story start

Day time (midday)

_Zero's pov _

I'm so hungry right now, that last hunt was really tiring. I only wish I didn't have to dodge the Hunter Association now. Kaien Cross asked why I didn't do something else so it would be easier to hide from them, but all I ever did was hunt vampires how could I stop…even though now I am a vampire. Whose gonna fall to Level E…

I need to sleep, but first something to eat. I can't get back to Kaien without food, and I can't sleep before I get "home" – to Kaien Cross. He and his daughter Yuki are the only people, from before the attack, who haven't shunned me and are helping me hide from the Hunter Association.

_Normal pov_

Zero looked around. He had a small amount of money, with which he intended to buy something to eat, before going back to the "home" he, Yuki and Kaien shared. It didn't help that he was now, after fleeing the hunt scene, in a completely new part of the town. And many of the café's looked way to posh for him to just enter and order something – if he had enough, which from the looks of it he wouldn't. After walking a small way he came to a square, that didn't look as posh as where he had come from, also he recognised one of the streets leading of the square.

Much as would have liked to carry on heading back he now was desperately hungry, especially after walking to find somewhere to eat. He decided to get something quick to eat, a sandwich, and headed for the nearest café. When he reached it as it was now nearly lunch time many of the tables were full and there were a few people waiting to be served. He took his place in the line, and once he had his sandwich and a drink decided it was way to crowded. So he went to sit on one of the benches in the square, discreetly heading for a shady bench away from the main rout through the square, as usual all the birds left him alone even though he had food. They know I'm a vampire, he thought. He began to eat but stopped when a he heard a cawing and a chocolate brown rook landed on the bench.

_Zero's pov_

Wait, chocolate brown rook. That can't be right, rooks are defiantly black. I looked again nope this one is still chocolate brown. Okay… ignore it and it will go away, I'm to hungry to wonder why a rook is oddly colored. Though it looks kind of hungry and kind of skinny, and it doesn't seem scared of me, even though it must know I'm a vampire. In fact I think it's the first animal to come near me since I was turned, which is sad considering I always liked animals. And tearing of a small piece of bread I held it out to the bird.

_Kaname's pov _

Ah, Shizuka has stopped watching me now, where to find some food? Hey! There's a vampire in the area, better be careful for Shizuka coming back to watch me, cos I can sense a vampire. Look around for the vampire, oh that must be him – sitting down there on that bench, all the other birds are avoiding the area, probably because they sense he's a vampire. Swooping down to the bench I looked up at the vampire. He's quite hot – to bad I'm a rook at the moment – he has silver hair and amethyst eyes, that's kind of like who Shizuka is looking for! Wait I think this is who Shizuka is looking for! Shit! Hang on, Shizuka isn't looking at me now and…he has food! Shizuka hardly gives me any food, and he has food! And as there are no other birds around, I don't have any competition for food! I bet if I keep calm Shizuka won't notice anything and I can get food!

_Normal pov _

Zero was beginning to think the odd rook that had swooped down from the sky, didn't want the bread he was offering out to it. Slowly he took a bite from the sandwich that he held in his other hand and was about to take the bread back when the rook hopped over and carefully took the bread, then without moving from the bench devoured it quickly. Zero took this chance to examine the bird more carefully and noticed that instead of light brown eyes as every rook he had seen so far had, this one had deeper more reddish brown eyes – weird – then again the fact that it was brown not black meant it obviously was no normal rook.

Zero didn't know the rook too was examining him. And had decided that this was obviously the vampire Shizuka was looking for, I mean how many vampires could there be out there with silver hair and amethyst eyes, and with a hunter taming spell tattoo, and he looked abut 17 so that made him the right age. As Zero held out another piece of bread, the bird had devoured the first so quickly it must be hungry, Kaname came to a decision, he could not let Shizuka know he had found who she was looking for. This vampire was too kind, he reminded Kaname of his parents, he had kind eyes and seemed so lonely sitting all alone on the bench in a busy square.

All to soon Zero had run out of sandwich for himself – and the rook. Kaname decided to try and talk to him, even though right now he was a rook perhaps he could talk through thoughts! Start slowly Kaname, he told himself.

:: Hello, are you by any chance called Zero?::

Wait a minute did the bird really know his name, and how the hell had it spoken?

"How do you know my name? And who are you?"

:: Ah so you can understand me. I wondered if that would work. I know your name because I am enslaved by Shizuka Hio, and I can't tell you who I am but, and she is looking for you ~ she either wants to control you or kill you!::

Okay now Zero was definitely confused.

"What on earth do you mean, you're enslaved by Shizuka and…"

:: Shut up a minute! I'm not going to tell her I've seen you, I can explain better tonight, return here at midnight, I'll be waiting::

"Okay…"

:: I have to go now, Shizuka is coming back! Be here if you want to know the truth::

And with those parting thoughts the rook quickly shielded his recent memory from Shizuka and flew high, away from Zero. Suddenly he thought, Shit! I basically made the split second decision to escape tonight!

_Zero's pov_

Well that was just weird, and now I have made a promise with an unusual ROOK, who is supposedly "enslaved" by SHIZUKA HIO, what the hell! What was with that rook anyway, it was totally different from any rook I had seen before, and also it was totally not scared of me…even thought I'm a vampire…and it is "enslaved" by Shizuka. Hang on a minute what if it was lying – what if it really is going to give me to Shizuka! But I have to find out why Shizuka is still looking for me. Should I really return tonight? I know - I'll come and if it tries to give me to Shizuka I'll be able to kill it and her, two birds with one stone, no pun intended. With that thought Zero looked at his watch, Crap! It was now 2:00pm he was meant to be back at the very latest an hour ago. Better ring Kaien, and tell him that he was fine. I bet he's going crazy with worry, if he wasn't crazy enough already.

Pulling out his mobile, he checked his messages, sure enough there were at least 10 saying 'where are you, I'm so worried', all of which were from Kaien. He deleted all of them, I mean I'm like 17 now, I don't need constant checking up on. Still it was nice to have someone who worried enough to check up on him, since he was shunned by the hunter society he had wondered if there would ever be anyone to worry about him again. He pressed the speed dial for Kaien and was immediately meet by really fast talking, Kaien always talked faster when he was worried.

"ZEZE (a.n. yes Kaien does call Zero Zeze), where are you daddy was so worried about you! Are you hurt?! Did you get injured?! Did the Hunter Association hunter see you?!"

"CALM DOWN! I am fine, and stop calling me Zeze! And why are you calling your self DADDY! I'm not 3, infact you calling yourself daddy is worse than Zeze, especially as you're not my dad! "

"You're so cold and mean to your daddy Zeze. But why are you so late?" (Having completely ignored Zero's request not to be called Zeze, and the request of not calling himself daddy)

"I had to run, and then I was really hungry and had to get something to eat"

"Okay, do you want me to come and pick you up, I know it's late for you."

"If you can that would be great, I'm in Willow Square. I'll be on Academy Road, by the park gates in 15 minutes."

"I'll be waiting…and don't be late, Zeze."

And with that Kaien hung up.

Zeze, how come he still calls me that! After 12 years you'd think he'd have stopped by now. Zero got up and walked down the quickest way to Academy Road.

Exactly 15 minutes later Zero was hurrying towards the park gates, where true to form Kaien was standing next to his car, waiting for Zero. Zero hurried up to be grated with,

"You are exactly 1 minute and 2 seconds late Zeze. And for that I can call you Zeze till tomorrow morning, and so can Yuki"

"What! I can't believe you actually timed how long I took down to the nearest second. And I can't believe that cos I was 1 minute late you think you can call me Zeze!"

"It was 1 minute and 2 seconds late Zeze, anyway Yuki was worried so lets just go home so she can see your fine, then you can go to sleep, okay Zeze?"

"Fine"

_Zero's pov_

I can't believe he timed how late I was to the nearest second, and now thinks he can call me Zeze. True I never told him I don't like being called Zeze thanks to how that was what Ichiru called me, and then everyone else picked it up and called me that as well, and now…he's dead…that name just reminds me of that night…when I was attacked…and turned. I just can't tell him that, he'll probably make a big fuss. I better not tell him about that rook either, he'll go mental and probably want to come with me or something. If I don't tell him he'll never suspect anything, since I go out at night now.

_At Shizuka's residence_

_Normal pov_

"There you are Kaname, not long now till I don't have to worry! Only a few days and you'll be a rook forever. You'll never find your soulmate in just 7 days, let alone make them fall in love with a rook! Rido really was clever to think of this spell when he couldn't kill you along with your parents!" Shizuka smiled and opened the gold cage placing Kaname carefully inside. The cage was large it had to be, because at night, when rooks roost Kaname returns to his true self, a pureblood vampire. However Shizuka was talking again "He was so clever to think about using this cage, which traps your pureblood powers while you're in vampire form. Really I couldn't ask for a better lover and giving you to me, the most perfect present. Using you as my own personal watch bird, that was such a good idea of mine."

End of chapter

YES! I am back and I am alive! As anyone reading Pureblood Powers will know I have been gone for months, I am soo sorry, I have been gone for so long (and that there isn't another chapter of Pureblood Powers ready to post) I really should just be concentrating on that story rather than starting another – but this idea has been pinging round my head for ages and I just had to start writing.

I had exams and then loads of stuff to do for college, basically real life got in the way of fanfic. All the ins and outs of this are on the two latest journals on my deviantART page (link on profile)

Reviews are welcome, so please review! ;D


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